1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a circular anastomosis stapler. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a circular anastomosis stapler having actuation stroke or strokes.
2. Background of Related Art
Anastomosis is the surgical joining of separate hollow organ sections so that the sections intercommunicate with each other. Typically, the anastomosis procedure follows surgery in which a diseased or defective section of hollow tissue is removed and the remaining end sections are to be joined. Depending on the desired anastomosis procedure, the end sections may be joined by either circular, end-to-side or side-to-side organ reconstruction methods.
In a circular anastomosis procedure, the two ends of the organ sections are joined by means of a stapling instrument, e.g., a circular anastomosis stapler, which drives a circular array of staples through the end sections of each organ section and simultaneously cores any overlapping tissue to free the tubular passage. Typically, these instruments include an elongated shaft having a handle portion at a proximal end to actuate the instrument and a staple holding component disposed at a distal end. An anvil assembly including an anvil rod with attached anvil head is mounted to the distal end. In operation, opposed end portions of the organs to be stapled are clamped between the anvil head and the staple holding component. The clamped tissue is stapled by driving one or more staples from the staple holding component so that the ends of the staples pass through the tissue and are deformed by the anvil head. The driving force is, typically, provided by a staple pusher. A cutting element, e.g., a cylindrical knife, is driven (simultaneously with the driving of the one or more staples into tissue) by a knife pusher to core the overlapping tissue to form an anastomosis ring therebetween. This type of firing sequence utilizes one linear drive motion to both fire the stapes and core the stapled tissue, e.g., utilizes a “single-stroke” firing or actuation sequence.
While circular anastomosis staplers that utilize a “single-stroke” firing or actuation sequence are capable of performing a circular anastomosis procedure, a circular anastomosis stapler that utilizes a single linear drive motion to provide a two-stroke firing sequence may prove useful in performing a circular anastomosis procedure.